Free Daily Headlines

Politics

Set your text size: A A A

Four Seasons Politics

School Board grudgingly accepts new HHS

Henderson County Four Seasons Politics

STATE DELAY BOOTS CANVASS TO NEXT WEEK

It could be a month before the state Board of Elections officially confirms the vote count in the Nov. 8 gubernatorial election and a recount could not begin until that final convass, Henderson County Elections Director Beverly Cunningham said Friday. A federal court order, a razor-thin gubernatorial race and the scrutiny of observers from both parties poses uncertainty as 100 county elections boards undertake the process to certify the Nov. 8 election. Gov. Pat McCrory, who trails Democratic challenger Roy Cooper by 5,001 votes after Election Day and one-stop votes were counted, gained 15 votes when the Henderson County Board of Elections tabulated absentee ballots it had approved. McCrory won the absentee vote, 83-68, padding his lead in Henderson County to 11,124. The board on Friday counted 173 absentee ballots and added those to the previous totals. "I don't think it's signficant at all," Terry Lyda, who was observing the county canvass for the Democratic Party, said of McCrory's 15-vote gain in heavily Republican Henderson County. "It's going to take something really crazy somewhere" to allow McCrory to overtake Cooper. "I'm thrilled. 83-68 is excellent for the absentee count." After it approved and tabulated the absentee votes, the elections board could take no other action in what is usually a routine canvass to certify the elections results. The state Board of Elections has directed the 100 county elections boards to wait until the state Division of Motor Vehicles researches voter registrations it has received. "Since these races are so close they want to make sure the information they provided is accurate," Cunningham said. Henderson County has 243 provisional ballots that have not yet been vetted and approved. They cannot be counted until the board blesses or rejects them. The state Board of Elections canvass, originally set for Nov. 28, has already been pushed back. "I'm hearing they're going to reset it for the first or second week of December now," she said. Elections Board Chairman Robert Heltman explained the process to a roomful of observers, on hand mostly to monitor the governor's race. "We were all hoping we would be done at the end of today," he said. "That is not the case." The board will reconvene at 10 a.m. Tuesday. There's no guarantee that the state will have completed its research on the DMV-generated registration even then, Cunningham said. Heltman and Tom Wilson, a Democrat and the previous chair, said they had never seen a delay this long. "This seems to be a unique situation," Heltman said. The McCrory campaign has filed elections complaints in 52 counties, claiming that irregularities could favor his opponent. None has been filed in Henderson County. Both Republicans and Democrats praised the Henderson County's elections administration as above board and accurate. "We're just lucky we've got the people here that we have," Lyda said. "I feel very confident in these people." Michael Edney, the county commissioner and an attorney, was retained by the state Republican Party to monitor the canvass. "In Henderson County we've got a great board and great staff," he said. "Clearly they know what they're doing." Josh Lawson, the general counsel of the state Elections Board, sent a memo to county elections boards at 5 p.m. Wednesday that directed the local boards to wait for a verification of voters' eligibility before counting the provisional votes. The state Board of Elections signaled in a news release on Thursday the likelihood that Friday's canvass may not produce a final result. The canvass "is followed by a final certification of statewide totals by the State Board of Elections," the N.C. Board of Elections said. "Counties may, however, delay canvass for a 'reasonable time' if the initial counting has not been completed," the state Elections Board said. "Many, if not all, counties are expected to do just that. Postponing canvass is necessary when certain decisions have not been made regarding provisional ballots, certain types of election protests are pending, or a delay is necessary to comply with a judicial order. The counties have good reason to extend their canvasses this year, including a recent court order." "In the final days of early voting, a federal court required election officials and the Division of Motor Vehicles to create a new review process for certain voters who claim they registered or changed their address at the DMV, even if no record of registration could be found." After counties canvass, a statewide candidate who trails by 10,000 votes or fewer may demand a recount by noon on the second business day. If a recount is demanded, the counties would conduct recounts individually in public view. A recount is a near certainty in the governor's race and likely in the state auditor election, where Democratic incumbent Beth Wood leads Republican challenger Chuck Stuber by 2,670 votes. “With each passing day, we discover more and more cases of voting fraud and irregularities,” McCrory campaign manager Russell Peck said in a news release. “We intend to make sure that every vote is properly counted and serious voter fraud concerns are addressed before the results of the election can be determined.” Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/election/article115492333.html#storylink=cpy     Read Story »

Henderson County Four Seasons Politics

Bazzle fine with election delivered like 'a 2x4 to the head'

The Henderson County School Board honored two colleagues Monday night who were serving in their last board meeting — longtime Chair Ervin Bazzle and first-term member Josh Houston.   Read Story »

Henderson County Four Seasons Politics

COMMISSIONERS, SCHOOL BOARD TO MEET ON HHS

The Henderson County Board of Commissioners will meet with the School Board for a joint discussion on the Hendersonville High School construction next week, the first time the two bodies will have sat down in the same room amid a widening conflict over power and money.   Read Story »

Hendersonville Four Seasons Politics

Early voting ends at 1 p.m. Saturday

Female voters outnumbered male voters by 3,159 after 10 days of early voting in Henderson County, election figures show, and more Republicans had voted than Democrats and independents.   Read Story »

Edneyville Four Seasons Politics

County has 'stirred up a nest of Yellow Jackets'

EDNEYVILLE — Months into a contentious battle with Hendersonville High School graduates, the Henderson County Board of Commissioners appears to have picked a new fight with Edneyville Elementary School and the Edneyville community.   Read Story »

Henderson County Four Seasons Politics

Sheriff's warning: It's a crime to steal signs

Grady Hawkins, Henderson County commissioner and Trump supporter, was impressed at the determination of sign thieves who took a 4x6-foot Trump sign from a yard on Kanuga Road.   Read Story »

Henderson County Four Seasons Politics

Quarter-cent sales tax on ballot with no advocates

If victory has a thousand fathers and defeat is an orphan, the local option sales tax is looking very much like the latter.   Read Story »

Henderson County Four Seasons Politics

Sheriff sets table for 2018 re-election campaign

Like all politicians, Charlie McDonald is quick to say that he’s not a politician. But he’s got more evidence than most. To begin with, he did not want the job he has now. After Sheriff Rick Davis’s stunning resignation the day before Thanksgiving 2011 amid a sexual harassment complaint by a female deputy, the Republican executive committee began meeting to find a replacement.“When the former sheriff started having issues I had been away from here for about a year and a half and I had never had any aspirations to become sheriff,” McDonald, 62, said in an interview. “In fact in all honesty, I hate to say it, I probably looked down my nose at anyone who thought they wanted to be sheriff. I guess I didn’t have a lot of respect maybe for politicians in general. I worked for some good sheriffs. Albert Jackson and George Erwin were very good sheriffs. Rick had some really good things going.”McDonald had retired as a captain after a career in which he climbed through the ranks from road deputy to criminal investigations to jail administrator. A SWAT team veteran, he worked after his sheriff’s career as a training consultant in the U.S. and abroad. Back home in Mills River, he had no interest in the sudden opening at the sheriff’s office. ‘Not only no but hell no’ “But the fact of the matter is a couple of different people came to my house and basically said, ‘Things aren’t good and they need somebody.’ Here’s what I was told: ‘The executive committee is going to need somebody to step in and they told me this very plainly. They don’t want somebody from inside because it’s going to look like the same old same old. They don’t want somebody who’s from so far outside that they don’t understand Henderson County. You would be a candidate because you’ve been away and yet you’ve got a history here.’ The first couple of times I was approached I said, ‘Not only no but hell no. Are you kiddin’ me? There’s no way.’”His closest adviser gave him a wakeup call. His wife, Jennie, knew the local law enforcement landscape. Her brother, George Erwin, had been a popular sheriff for 12 years; at the time she was secretary to the district attorney.“About the third time it happened I told Jennie, we were sitting in the living room — I remember it like it was yesterday — and she said ‘What happened?’ I said, ‘Well, you’ll never believe this. So-and-so asked me … and I relayed the story. And she said, ‘What’d you say?’ I looked at her incredulously and I said, ‘I said hell no, Jennie, what did you expect I’d say?’ And she looked at me and all of a sudden I felt like a 3-year-old being scolded by his mom and she said, ‘You’ve had several people ask. You’ve done this for 25 years. Do you not think we should have talked about it and prayed about it and seen (about it) because I don’t think this is happening for no reason.’“And when she said that I told her I would think about it. And this is where everybody will think I’m a nut job but I don’t care. I went out and I prayed about it and the thing that I heard clearly, not a spoken voice, I got an impression from God that said when you’re willing to go risk in that place and you have to rely on me for everything you’ll find what it is you’re looking for. And I knew right then that if I said no, I was still good to go, but if I said yes then I was actually stepping out on a risk to do something I had a potential to fail greatly at but I felt like if I said yes that I would have what I needed.”“I’ll be the first to tell you I was not prepared,” he added. “I didn’t study for this. I didn’t train for it. At times I wondered if I knew what was going on but the fact of the matter is this has been one of the most rewarding times of my life. It’s been the most challenging, the most trying, the most frustrating, the most tragic at times and yet I know that what we’ve accomplished is truly because not only my faith in God but this community. I have people tell me all the time, they pray for me and they pray for this agency.” Stumble at the starting line McDonald’s inexperience showed up early in his 2014 election campaign. A campaign finance filing from his first fundraiser, a successful golf tournament, reported $3,050 in cash donations of more than $50 each, a violation of state law. McDonald wanted to return the donations but state law didn’t allow that. It was a black eye for a candidate who not only looked like Mr. Clean but had tried to make ethics and departmental integrity his brand.This time around, he’s better organized and fully versed on campaign finance law. The reluctant politician is now a formidable incumbent — and he’s taking steps to make sure would-be rivals know the office of sheriff won’t be an open seat two years from now. Although the 2016 election dominates the headlines today, McDonald is already focused on 2018. He kicked off his re-election campaign on Oct. 17 with a sold-out golf tournament at Kenmure Country Club.“I came in as an appointee, so the concept of what it would take to run a campaign was foreign to me,” he said last week when asked why he is starting now. “Two and a half years later I found myself facing opposition in both a primary and a general election and both times I had to start from zero to raise a significant amount of money to get elected.“So we figure with where we are right now I have contacts and resources, so rather than come to folks at the very last minute with a big needs list we’re just trying to make sure for the next several years we’ll probably have an event once or twice a year — things that aren’t under a lot of pressure, just a lot of fun. The golf tournament was incredibly successful. We had a full field and the day it started we actually had a team show up. We were running around trying to find a spare golf cart.” He estimated that the event raised $10,000. ‘We’re all here for the same reason’ One thing McDonald wants to talk about in a re-election campaign is more community involvement in policing and grassroots approach that encourages neighbors to help neighbors. He pointed to the flood recovery in Eastern North Carolina as an example of solutions working best close to home.“The thing that’s going to make the most significant impact is local area governments and communities working together to meet their own specific needs,” he said. “Those are the people who know each other, who know the topography and all the nuances in their community. They can put together their own resources better than Raleigh can put together something and send it to them and have it be a one size fits all. … The office of sheriff is really born out of that community concept. I think really that’s my vision going forward.”He’s on a winning streak when it comes to sheriff’s office funding, which must be approved by the Board of Commissioners. His deputies got a pay raise larger than the countywide cost of living increase. Then commissioners authorized a $20 million training center McDonald insists is needed to stay ahead of threats to the community and deputies’ own safety.“I think we always do,” he replied when asked if he still had more selling to do on the need for the training center. “I believe I owe that to commissioners who stepped out and bought the vision that I had.“I think if people pay attention every day — we’re always hearing about law enforcement training, law enforcement use of force,” he added. “I don’t look at what happens yesterday or today, I look at trends.”McDonald still styles himself as a reformer who has stabilized a department rocked by the Rick Davis scandal. It’s come out the other end stronger and more professional, he says, and he’s learned to surround himself with a command staff and corps of deputies that support his vision.“I think the good thing I have going for me by the grace of God is I’m smart enough to know that I’m not smart enough,” he said. “I also know how to find the right kind of people who are led by the right kind of conviction. I believe we’re all here for the same reason and it’s been a recipe for success. … One of the advantages I know I have is I wasn’t looking for this job when I found it and if I lose this job by doing the right thing then it’s time for me to go anyway.”     Read Story »

Henderson County Four Seasons Politics

Meadows poised for run at leading House conservatives

U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows could be moving on to a higher profile role in Washington — assuming he wins re-election on Nov. 8.   Read Story »

Four Seasons Politics Archive